![\"Sony](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/132B4\/production\/_100161587_2afed6f0-b582-4b02-8d4e-da24c6a9cbdd.jpg\")
The Xperia XZ2’s 5.7in screen can show video in HDR colour<\/span><\/figure>\n“The rumble tech is a bit of a gimmick,” commented Ben Stanton from the consultancy Canalys.<\/p>\n
“I’ve tried it. It does make gaming more immersive, but I don’t think it works very well in a video context.<\/p>\n
“And I don’t think it adds the value that consumers are looking for in a smartphone these days”<\/p>\n
CCS Insight’s Ben Wood added that he thought the phone’s new industrial design was a major improvement on the past, but that he also had doubts about the new flagship’s prospects.<\/p>\n
“Success often comes down to marketing dollars and brand,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Taking on Apple and Samsung requires eye-watering investment that Sony is always going to struggle with.”<\/p>\n
Higher-def slow-mo<\/strong><\/p>\n The XZ2’s other new features centre on its camera.<\/p>\n Last year’s model was the first phone to be able to stretch out 0.2 seconds’ worth of action to create six seconds of footage, in 720p resolution.<\/p>\n Samsung made much fanfare of adding a similar feature to its new phones on Sunday.<\/p>\n But Sony has now trumped that by delivering its 960 frames-per-second footage in 1080p – twice the resolution that its South Korean competitor offers.<\/p>\n It said it had achieved this by using a customised version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 chip that features its own image signal processor technology.<\/p>\n The potential problem for the firm, however, is that early reports indicate Samsung’s version is much easier to use.<\/p>\n “Sony hasn’t done much to tweak the user interface since last year’s model, where it was pretty poorly executed and very difficult to capture the key moment,” said Mr Stanton.<\/p>\n “And Samsung has done some brilliant work with AI and image recognition to capture the fast moments as they happen – it’s actually learned from Sony’s mistakes to launch something better, even though technically it’s not to as high a standard.”<\/p>\n Another new camera technology in the XZ2 is the ability to record 4K videos in both a high dynamic range format – meaning images should appear more vibrant and realistic when played back on a compatible screen – as well as in 10-bit colour.<\/p>\n The latter feat means that users will be able to tweak the colour of the resulting footage with less risk of causing banding and other visual artifacts.<\/p>\n While this is likely to only appeal to a relatively small number of film-makers, it is significant as the firm has yet to offer the facility to many of its high-end cameras.<\/p>\n ‘Not for sale’<\/strong><\/p>\n Sony’s mobile division was the only part of the company to report a loss in its last financial quarter and there has been speculation that the business might be shut down or sold off.<\/p>\n The firm is about to change its chief executive, and the new boss – Kenichiro Yoshida – was previously responsible for selling off its Vaio PC business and cutting the budget of the mobile division.<\/p>\n Sony has, however, denied that it is actively considering spinning off or shutting down the unit.<\/p>\n “As you can see from our announcements and presence at Mobile World Congress, we are fully committed to the mobile sector,” marketing chief Hideyuki Furumi told the BBC.<\/p>\n “As long as Sony remains committed to the electronics business, mobile will be of strategic significance due to its R&D prospects for delivering numerous cutting-edge technologies such as 5G networks, the internet-of-things and 3D-sensing.”<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sony’s latest top-end smartphone vibrates in time with movie and TV action scenes and video games. The Xperia XZ2’s rumble tech adapts a feature originally developed for the firm’s PlayStation controllers. It also records “super-slow-mo” videos at a higher resolution than Samsung’s Galaxy S9. Sony has, however, pioneered other phone innovations in the past – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":404528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[106],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n![](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/images\/ic\/720x405\/p04wdvf4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/CE1F\/production\/_100176725_sam1.jpg\")
Samsung executive DJ Koh introduced the Galaxy S9 at Mobile World Congress this week<\/span><\/figure>\n![\"XZ2](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/113D8\/production\/_100161607_6dd61015-69aa-4d20-99f9-d74432555767.jpg\")
Sony is also releasing a “compact” version of the XZ2 phone with a smaller display but otherwise similar specifications<\/span><\/figure>\n![\"Sony](\"https:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/B079\/production\/_100177154_whatsubject.jpg\")
The new phone can take 3D selfies of its user’s face<\/span><\/figure>\n